Sacred Heart Community Service SHCS was founded in 1964 by Louise Benson who provided food and clothing out of her home in response to the urgent needs of her low-income neighbors. It has grown to become one of the leading providers of services to the working poor in Santa Clara County, serving more than 50,000 unduplicated children and adults in 2009 alone. The agency's strategy combines essential services (food, clothing, housing and utility assistance), with programs that foster self-sufficiency (employment, family mentoring, citizenship, and youth and adult education), and outreach to inspire the community to get involved through donations and volunteerism. Today SHCS thrives as a non-demoninational organization with a legacy of ministering to those in need for 44 years.
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The agency is located in San Jose, California due south of downtown at the intersection of South First and Alma streets, in the Goodyear-Mastic neighborhood, which is part of the larger Washington Area Coalition.
Philosophy
The vision of SHCS is a "community united to ensure every child and adult is free from poverty" and since 1964 it has been one of the leading institutions addressing poverty in Santa Clara County, with a strategy that combines meeting basic needs, offering tools for self-sufficiency, and providing opportunities for the wider community to get involved.
The mission of Sacred Heart Community Service is to change lives and eradicate poverty by providing essential services, such as food, clothing and emergency housing aid; tools for self-sufficiency, such as education and job-training; and ministering to all with diginity, compassion and respect. The agency serves more than 20,000 people each month, including a record 26,101 in December 2009.
History
SHCS was founded in 1964, by Louise Benson, who at age 61 began distributing baskets of food from her Willow Glen home. The agency was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in 1972. In 2008, the agency became the Community Action Agency for Santa Clara County, a responsibility that requires The Heart to constantly assess the state of poverty in Silicon Valley and find innovative solutions to the obstacles and problems that block the achievement of self-sufficiency.
Poverty in Santa Clara County
In early 2010, the unemployment rate in the county hovered about 12 percent and the under-employment rate was about 20 percent. Out of a population of just less than 1.9 million in Santa Clara County, more than 440,000 people live in households that do not earn enough to cover the basic needs of life in Silicon Valley, defined as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, utilities and healthcare.